The Pogues formed in 1982 and split up as a band in 1996 with the departure of Shane MacGowan, Shane says
about the split that the band were going down a different route musically that he wanted to go, they were drifting away
from the Irish style of playing music and doing more pop stuff, Shane had already done the pop stuff with The Nips and went
as far as they could go. The Pogues reformed a few years ago and mostly do Christmas gigs in Ireland and Britain and
the occasional festival, when asked why the band reformed Shane said it was for the money. I doubt if that was the real reason
as Shane would sing at the drop of a hat, as Christy Moore says, 'When You Get The Ballad Bug It Never Leaves You'.

Bono from U2 said that Shane MacGowan was one of the best songwriters in the last 100 years, very high praise
from the front man of the greatest rock band in the world.

The Pogues happened as a completely organic thing. We had all known each other for ages. Once The Nips
broke up, I was arranging a gig for The Millwall Chainsaws at The Tombridge Club in Cromer Street. The Chainsaws were Spider's
band.The band who mutated into The New Republicans who mutated into The Pogues. Me and Jim went busking a lot which was really
a good way to get the raw original set list together at Covent Garden which they had totally f,,,,, up with their snotty mall,
they were holding auditions to decide who could busk in the market, so me and Jim turned up one morning at ten on a weekday
as the shops were just opening for the audition. There was only one person around and he looked like one of the group, a genuine
Paddy in a suit getting pissed, exactly the kind of guy they didn't want in the new Covent Garden. A real asshole auditioned
us, and he clearly didn't like us, but this other guy started shouting out requests and we knew a lot of the tunes. We offered
to do Carrickfergus and he said yeah Carrickfergus, I practically built the place , that finished us off. That guy loved us
but he didn't count us as a person in these people's eyes, that and the fact I was holding a can of beer at ten in the morning.
We were good, we always made lots of money on the tubes but we didn't get the licence to busk. I really wish I had a film
camera with me because it would have made a great video.

Ollie from The Chainsaws became the new drummer in The New Republicans and it was he who had the idea
of doing Irish rebel songs in a really loud obnoxious way.We were in the kitchen of the squat one day and I was just banging
around on the guitar. We all knew loads of those songs like ''Paddy On The Railway'' and The Rising Of The Moon and Kitty.Our
first gig as The New Republicans was me Spider Matt Jacobson Ollie Watts and John Golding. We all knew Andrew and he was the
first drummer we tried out but he was in The Operation and we weren't getting it together fast enough.That first
gig was at Club Futura , Richard Strange's club, where we used to go every week. It was an affordable new music venue. Soft
Cell had played the week before us, just before ''Tainted Love'' came out. John and a few others came with us to the gig and
a buzz started going around about it because it all ended rather abruptly. There were 15 squaddies in the audience, just back
from Northern Ireland. I think they were actually enjoying it at first, we were always bumping into squaddies. They had fish
and chips with them which was against the rulls but who's going to stop 15 squaddies with fish and chips. Anyway I think we
played something like The Patroit Game and that might have been when they pelted us with the chips. It wasn't dangerious or
anything, they weren't going to throw full cans of beer at us.

I didn't mind being hit with chips, some of us were actually eating them, but it was a very sinsitive
time and the Landlord got paranoid being Irish. We had nearly finished the set but I think the squaddies were getting
a bit rowdy and according to Jim and Richard Strange who tried to reason with the Landlord he said ''I've got nothing against
the English but I don't need that kind of heat '' . I can understand his position. So we got the plug pulled on us and we
had to leave the back way in case they jumped us which would have been great because there was more os than them.

Then we were out having a drink one night at the Pindar of Wakefield, me, Jim, Spider, Ollie and a guy
called Justin and a woman who I can't remember her name. They used to put on gigs there and I used to work for them helping
the bands on with their gear. Then we actually got booked to play there and I said I could take the money as well as playing.
That went on for ages, me just getting out of the crowd and getting on stage. Darrel was around at this stage. We had two
drivers, him and Rick. So I just carried on working at the gigs. Stan Brennan was putting on and working at the record shop
and then we would play on Monday's at the Pindar of Wakefield.

The above photo. is the new Pogues D.V.D. which was recorded at The Olympia in Paris France in 2012 and
is now on sale. It's the 30th anniversory concert. It's seldom I do reviews here but this one is something special. In my
opinion it's one of their best gigs ever. I have seen the Pogues play live on numerous occasions, I have even played guitar
for Shane in Kerry many years ago. So like any Pogues fan when you go to a concert it's a bit hit and miss as to how Shane
will perform. At some of the gigs I have attended I couldn't understand a single word Shane was singing as he was so drunk.
But this new D.V.D. is much different. It's the best piece of work the band have ever done. The sound quality is excelent,
every lyric is crystal clear and Shane remembers every word of ever song. The band are on top form, they must have been rehearsing
big time before the recording was made. The atmospher coming from the crowd is electric which adds to the whole preformance.
In previous gigs Shane was mostly left doing all the vocals with a little help from Phil and Terry now and again, this time
all members of the band join in on the chorus of every song, even Darryl who seldom done and singing. So with all members
singing the chorus of every song it makes for a really rich full sound, now who didn't they join in the singing over the last
30 years ?. If you were thinking about buying this new D.V.D. then I say go out and get it. You won't be disappointed,it's
well worth the money. You not only get the D.V.D. but there's also 2 C.D.s with all the song. You also get a booklet with
loads of stories from the band members and fans stories. The bonus D.V.D. features interviews with Shane over the years with
some very old video footage of The Pogues early recordings. Marks out of 10 ?, I'll have to say 10.

A friend of Jim's called Rick Elgood borrowed a camera from film school and we made a video for Streams
Of Whiskey which we'd recorded, the video only cost sixty quid. I think it
was Jim's idea to strip down to our underpants and sit in deckchairs,
freezing by the canal on the coldest day of the year drinking cider out of champagne glases like in
the Wham Tropicana video. Cath , my sister Siobhan and my cousin Arline from Tipperary and Pam Hogg
were in the video. The girls did a bit of Irish dancing on a barge on
the canal and then we went back to the Pindar Of Wakefield where everybody
who knew us were gathered and we had a big piss-up. In that video we came out of dust bins like in a Marks Brother's movie,
and in another scent James and another guy called Dave did some break dancing
which was really good. James was always a really good preformer. At the time
break dancing wasthe latest thing. Me and Jim went down to the West End to a cutting room
to edit it and it is really well edited. I still think it's our best video because we edited it ourselves.
There's been a million things said about what happened after that. Any one
who wanted to come and see us could come and see us, and anybody who wanted
to listen to us could listen to us. So id you know who the Pogues are you can make up your own mind.